The present invention relates generally to the field of data replication, and more particularly to the handling of open transactions in a data replication environment.
In today's competitive IT markets, many companies have data replication tools to replicate data from a source database to one or more target databases on a close to real time basis. One type of database system that is frequently backed up is a relational database management system (RDBMS). A RDBMS is a program that lets you create, update, and administer a relational database. An RDBMS is also the basis for structured query language (SQL).
In a RDBMS, a transaction log, also referred to as a transaction journal, database log, binary log or audit trail, is a history of actions executed by a database management system to guarantee transaction properties over crashes or hardware failures. Stated another way, a transaction log is a file that lists changes to the database and is stored in a stable storage format.
A data definition language, also referred to as data description language (DDL), is a syntax similar to a computer programming language for defining data structures, and is typically used in database schemas. Examples of DDL commands or operations are CREATE, ALTER, DROP, TRUNCATE COMMENT, and RENAME.
A data manipulation language (DML) is a family of syntax elements similar to a computer programming language used for selecting, inserting, deleting and updating data in a relational database. SQL is one popular data manipulation language that is used to retrieve and manipulate data in a relational database. Examples of DML commands or operations are SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, MERGE and DELETE.